250th Hunger Games
by Max Albina
Summary: Seven tributes, four females and three males, are followed in the arena. Seven different lives, seven different losses, one victor. Who will win? Rated M just for safety.


**ANASTASIA ALLEN** was happy to be from District Two.

Enough food all the time, training, healthy people, most victors are from there, and you never see a twelve-year-old kid in the arena. There is always a volunteer or two. And this year, it was going to be her.

_Flashback_

"_Anastasia Allen, please see me in my office after lunch."_

_Ana shoved her tray into the corner where one of the custodians would have to clean it up. Her group of friends followed._

"_Ana! Put your tray away!" Claire told her, disappointed._

"_The custodians can do that, it's their job."_

"_But… You're being… disrespectful!" Clair was way too kind and often stayed behind to clean up a big mess so the cleaners don't do their job._

_Anastasia sneered. "See you guys later," she said "I need to see Old Pat." And without another word, she spun around on her heels, stuck her hands in her pockets and walked out of the cafeteria in the Training Centre._

_She quickly walked down the long, white corridor until she came up to a dark brown door and knocked. She quickly walked in and planted herself on the chair in front of Old Patricia._

"_What did I do now?" she asked, clearly annoyed and wanting to get it over with._

"_Anastasia Allen, this time you surprised me by _not _getting into trouble for almost a week. Now let's get back to business. Miss Allen, you have been chosen to represent District Two in the Tenth Quarter Quell by the Academy Of Higher Training."_

_Ana choked on laugh and sat up straight. "What? They chose me? But there are many eighteen year olds willing to volunteer, and I'm only sixteen."_

"_Yes, Anastasia, but you proved yourself to be the most skilled girl of District Two."_

"_So you're telling me I have to volunteer to go to the Games, because some academy chose me?" She leaned forward._

"_You don't have to. The choice is yours. If you disagree, we have a lot more people to volunteer."_

"_You know what? You're right. I'll volunteer."_

_End of flashback_

Anastasia smashed her brown, old-fashioned alarm clock (the only type that could wake her up) and rolled out of bed, landing on the floor. The sheets fell on top of her, but she didn't care.

_Damn, I am not a morning person._

She remembered it was her big day. So excited.

Anastasia got up and looked at a clock in her wall. Six o'clock. She dragged herself to the bathroom, and locked the door. She took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, and, after a few minutes, she got out. Ana got out and noticed that her bed was tidied and an emerald-green strapless mini dress was on it. She felt guilty that her mother had to tidy her bed, but she soon forgot when she saw the dress. She would add a black bracelet and heels to that, and it would look better than beautiful.

She quickly put it on and walked downstairs, where her mom was cooking breakfast for herself. Ana sat down and looked down at the plate. There was a bit of red caviar, turkey with an egg, a crispy potato with cream, and some peas. She was so glad she was born in a rich district. Some people eat rotten apples and moldy bread for breakfast.

"Dad is gone to work, but he'll be back before the reaping. It starts at twelve." Her mom said. Then she smiled, "Anastasia! You look so beautiful!"

"Thanks mom. And you shouldn't have tidied my bed, I would have done it."

"Oh, don't be like that. Once in a year, it's OK."

Ana ate a bit, and then went to watch TV. It was mostly boring stuff. She switched to Capitol Gossip.

"Azalees Zafarin was caught with Mouse in a restaurant. What was going on between them? Most beautiful people in the Districts, list from One to Twelve! Dangers of pink and purple skin dye! Interviews from the victors! President Snow reveals the idea for the Quell! Sneak peeks of the arena, and much, much more you'll see today on Capitol Gossip!" an annoying high-pitched voice screamed. Only the last two things interested Anastasia.

Finally, they showed sneak peeks of the arena. All it showed was a bunch of District Eleven and Sevens carrying boulders. Then it showed the Gamemaker working on mutts. All anyone could see was something black and furry, with a bit of brown on the bottom. "They drink blood and kill in the most painful of ways" was all the Gamemakers would say. Then it showed President Snow pull a yellowed envelope out of a black box. He read it out loud.

"To show the Districts what they all were before the Games, one most dangerous criminal will be taken out of jail from every District, and go to the arena with the tributes. If the criminal wins, he or she will be granted freedom."

Ana shuddered.

"Maybe you don't want to volunteer this year, dear?" her mother asked. She had been standing behind Ana the whole time.

"Maybe I don't. But Mom, the academy told me. They'll kick me out if I don't."

"Ana, you always are stressed about everything. Who cares about the academy?"

"I do, and you do too. You know I'll make you and Dad proud."

"Well, if you are so sure…"

_Oh hell yeah, I am very damn sure._

EIRIAN RELIC walked into the seventeen-year-old section, taking small, quick steps. She couldn't help but notice how scrawny all the tributes from District Five were. She was no exception.

The brand new white jeans and light blue blouse didn't look as good as they could have if she was, for example, from District One.

The escort walked up on stage, and Eirian almost laughed out loud. She had a few sparkles glued on to her face, like a little kid rolled around in glitter, a bright pink dress, and a few black stripes on her arms that were probably supposed to make her look like a tiger, but it failed. She also had a hat with fox ears attached to it.

"Welcome, citizens, welcome. Do you like my fox ears? They are to represent District Five, the District of muttations and DNA stuff!" she said, happier than she was supposed to be. Silence.

"Well, um… We should start anyways. So, the female tribute this year is…" she walked over to the female bowl and dug around. Eirian looked over at the male bowl, because something grabbed her attention. One of the slips wasn't white like the others, but highlighted yellow.

"And this year's female tribute is…" she opened up the paper and cleared her throat "Eirian Relic!"

She froze. The world suddenly got very slow. People stared at her. Eirian's muscles froze and felt like they were on fire. A couple of people poked her in the back. She walked up on stage slowly and awkwardly. Her mother was clutching other moms and crying, while her friends looked like they were holding in tears, trying to be brave for her. She wanted to give them a reassuring smile, but she couldn't.

"Aaaaand our _very _lucky boy is…" she grabbed the yellow paper and, without even opening it, screamed out "Trent Mercy!"

Eirian saw some movement in the eighteen-year-old section. A boy with blue eyes walked out. Anybody could tell he was scared.

"Trent!" A boy stepped forward. Two peacekeepers grabbed him and pulled him back. _Poor guy. That's probably his brother _"No, no, no!" he yelled, pushing them away, making one more peacekeeper run at him.

Before they tried to knock him out, he screamed "No, there's a volunteer! I volunteer!" The peacekeepers let him go, looking confused. In fact, everyone in the District looked startled.

"We don't want him to steal all the fame, now do we? Was that your brother?"

The boy who volunteered had a metal mask on with two little holes for his eyes.

"Yes." He was on stage before his brother could protest.

"Remove that mask, the ladies want to see your beautiful face!" she said.

"Really? I don't think so." But he still took off the mask. A few people fainted, some screamed out in shock, others stood there dumbfound, not rude enough to make comments. Eirian closed her eyes tightly. What she saw she would never forget.

The boy had skin as pale as a dead fish. His eyes were red. His hair was thin and black. You could see dark veins through his skin. He was almost like a living circulatory system. Eirian knew that boy. The Mutt. He was in her class. People often made fun of him, but she didn't. She just felt sad. She remembered one time a boy insulted his mother. Gabriel carved out the word "Bastard" on the guy's hand, with a sharp nail.

"What's your name, young man?"

"Gabriel Mercy," he said with no emotion at all.

"Now shake hands!" she screamed happily.

As they shook hands, dark blue eyes stared into red. His hands were colder than ice, and he looked worried.

_What did I do to deserve this_, she thought. _What did he do? What did all us kids do?_

Eirian knew she wasn't coming out alive. All she was is smart. Most of the tributes there will be much stronger than her, bigger than her, and they could use many weapons. She could set traps and make poisons, but that's it.

Then they walked into the Justice building for goodbyes.

Eirian sat on a soft red couch and hung her head down. She let a few tears fall before anyone came. About one minute passed before her mom ran in, crying.

"Eirian! My baby!" she sobbed. Her eyes were almost as red as Gabriel's, but that was because she was crying.

"Mom, I'll win, you'll see." Eirian said, also crying "I'll win, it'll be easy! I'm coming back!" she tried to sound optimistic, but combined with tears she sounded like an insane woman.

"Eirian, I need to tell you something. You know how I've been saving up money, but I wouldn't tell you why?"

"Yes…" they both stopped crying. Her mother stroke her daughter's dark dirty blond hair.

"I know this sounds crazy, nobody does this in the Districts anymore. But I wanted to… recreate your father, using his DNA. They do that in the Capitol all the time, but it costs a lot of money. I almost have enough. When you come back, Dad will be waiting for you with me. We'll be a full family again, and you'll have many brothers and sisters."

"Yes, that could work," Eirian said, thinking _no way it could._

She held the pendant of her necklace, the fang of the mutt that killed her dad. It was found inside his neck.

Maybe it could work. Maybe she could come back. Maybe she could.

GABRIEL MERCY was sitting in the most beautiful room he has ever seen, waiting for visitors.

Well, not "visitors", but only his brother Trent.

Trent broke in. The peacekeepers were trying to calm him down, but he didn't listen. He shut the door.

"Red!" That was his nickname for Gabriel.

"Blue!"

"Why did you volunteer? You little piece of –" he never got to finish.

"A thing like me should die." Gabe stated blankly.

"What?" Trent couldn't believe his ears, even though he heard that a thousand times.

"You heard. Besides, that would really piss off the Capitol. You think one of the papers was yellow, because what? They dropped it in some yellow paint? Are you really that naïve? That was all planned; they planned to send you into the Games! Our parents are Avoxes, and all they can do is watch one of their kids turn into a freak, and the other one die in the Games. That guy Dad stabbed, he had a brother. A brother who wanted to make sure Dad's life is pure hell."

"I at least had a chance to come back!" Trent yelled. The words stung, and Gabriel closed his red eyes, but he didn't cry. He had cried enough in his life, he wasn't doing that anymore.

"I know I'm an ugly un-human creature and I could never get sponsors, but…"

"That's not what I meant." Trent whispered.

"I'm a better fighter. I can kick anybody's ass, and I won't care. But if you go, even if you come back, you'll become a monster. The Games will break you. I would rather die than allow that." Gabe said with a lot of strength in his voice.

"Red..." Trent didn't know what to say.

"Trust me. I'll try to come back. I'll really try." He noticed Trent's eyes were watery.

"Time's up!" a peacekeeper yelled, opening the door. Trent walked out reluctantly.

Gabriel sat there for a few minutes, but then two peacekeepers walked in and took him away. The escort with animal ears, Gabe though her name was Fox, was waiting for them next to an electric blue car.

"Isn't this just _lovely, _dears?" She said while Gabriel and Eirian got into the car "They'll drop us off at the train station, and then you'll see the Capitol!"

"Yeah, we're going to our deaths! Just wonderful!" He gave her a dirty look.

Fox ignored it and smiled at Eirian.

Gabe looked out of the window to see the part of District Five he never saw, or cared to see. Photographers chased the blue car and snapped pictures, making Gabriel groan. Stupid people, think they'll have pictures of the tributes. Gabriel pulled a black curtain over the window.

The ride was boring, and Fox kept on talking about how the Capitol is going to be "just wonderful!" and how the stylists are going to make them look "fabulous!"

_Nothing can make me look good. The Capitol made me weird. What has been done can't be undone._

A mosquito was flying around the car, trying to get out. Gabe couldn't help staring at it. That's why Fox noticed it and shrieked. She pulled some spray out of a dark blue jewel encrusted bag and sprayed the bug vigorously.

"What's that?" Eirian asked.

"Oh. My hairspray. Doesn't it smell nice?" Fox said happily.

"Watch out. The stuff's deadly," Gabriel said, and Fox ignored him once again.

It was a metaphor. Gabriel was the mosquito, the Capitol was the spray. Capitol kills Gabe.

Finally, they arrived at the train where a new wave of photographers was waiting, ready to attack.

When the tributes, the escort and the mentor got out of the car, there was no escaping them. They surrounded them from all sides and wouldn't let them get out of the circle of photographers.

"Thank you, thank you for the attention! But we must go, the Capitol awaits!" Fox dug her way out of the crowd, grabbing the mentor by the collar and dragging him out with her. Their mentor, Marina, grabbed Eirian and Eirian hesitantly took Gabe's hand. He didn't shake it off, so she pulled him after her. Soon they were out of the crowd and boarded the train.

Inside the train, Marina made herself at home and entered the dining room. Gabriel realized that he had never actually been on a train. He looked out the windows but immediately regret it when he saw the photographers taking last-minute photos. He flipped them off and turned around, sitting down at a table. He noticed everyone was already talking.

"So, strengths, weaknesses?" Marina asked, quickly getting to business.

"I, uh, don't want to discuss it… in front of… everyone."

"Understandable. And you, Gabriel?" Marina asked once again.

"Same," he said, just because he wasn't in the mood for talking. What could a skinny little nerd like her who doesn't know anything about life do to him? He knew she was smart, she was in his class. And very pretty too, even the popular girls were jealous of her. But that won't save her. If anything, that would make her a target.

He knew he wasn't coming out of there alive, but neither was Eirian.


End file.
